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CHAPTER TWO

emma

W hy the hell don’t I have time for a relationship again?

Bright blue eyes caught the afternoon light flooding my waiting room, and his wide shoulders and chiseled chest filled out his work shirt.

His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, a leather belt cinched his waist, and heeled work boots gave him a sexy swagger as he came to a stop beside me.

He smelled of freshly cut pine, high-dollar cigars, and smoked whiskey.

My mouth watered, my jaw slackened, and maybe I stared a little too long. Friday nights would turn into whole damn sex weekends with that guy. Logan Blackwood was the most gorgeous, panty-dropping man I’d ever seen, and it pissed me off that I didn’t have time for him.

He scanned the room until he located Callie, and he immediately crouched down in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I came as soon as your mom texted me. I don’t know how he managed to get out.”

“ You let Sully out?” I repeated and scowled at the man, glad for a reason to be irritated with him.

It distracted me from the fantasy playing on the projector screen in the back of my head and the growing irritation that Callie’s mom, Sheila, was probably dating the hottest guy who had ever been interested in me.

“Don’t you know how to be a responsible pet owner?

You shouldn’t let him anywhere near the door. ”

Slowly, Logan turned around, frowned up at me, and then straightened, leisurely, dramatically. When he drew himself to his full height, he towered over me. He must have been at least six foot five inches tall.

He tucked his fingers in the belt loops on the hips of his work pants. “Sully-Boy is determined to get out of the house, and there’s not much we can do to stop him.” He paused, and his gaze narrowed as he looked me up and down. “But I don’t think I was talking to you.”

I raised my eyebrows and tipped my head to the side. “Well, I’m the vet here, and Sully is my patient, so I think I’m involved in this conversation.”

“Oh, I know who you are.” His words held the weight of a lot more negative commentary behind them, and the corner of his mouth pinched while he studied me.

I blinked as I processed his tone. “Do you have a problem with me?”

“Maybe I should ask you that question.”

A rude response might have been appropriate in any other place than in my waiting room, standing in front of Callie whose eyes had been bouncing back and forth between us like she was glued to a tennis match.

Fuck off wasn’t at all what I wanted to say to the guy, though.

I wanted to say: Yeah, I have a problem with how hot you are, how busy I am, and basically how I want to find a way to have a no-strings-attached fling with you… But you’re with Sheila.

“Well?” he pressed.

Sheila put her hands up between us. “Whoa, whoa, leave my vet alone, Logan. No need for either of you to get snippy.” She turned to me and gestured to Logan. “Emma, meet my cousin, Logan. I’m sure Sully’s escape was an accident.”

“I’ve seen him around town,” I said, keeping my arms crossed and my face straight despite the elation over the word “cousin.” It meant they weren’t a couple.

Callie tugged on Logan’s hand. “It’s okay, Uncle Lo. He’s always getting out.”

He crouched down again. “Thanks, Callie. I’m going to wait outside while you two finish up in here.” When he stood up, he tugged a credit card from his pocket and handed it to Sheila, who shook her head, so he shoved the card at me. “I’m paying.”

Sheila was a single mom, doing single-mom hard shit, and I took the card before I turned back to Callie and Sheila, deliberately turning my back toward Logan. The door chimed as he stepped out.

“Sully-Boy is fine,” I said. “He's going to make a full recovery, but he'll have to stay in a cone for a couple of days before we can take it off him. If he seems to ignore his leg, you can take it off him sooner. ”

“The cone of shame. He’s going to hate that,” Callie exclaimed with a smile so wide I thought it might split her face. The news seemed to delight her.

I leaned down so we were eye level. “And you'll have to try to keep him inside so he doesn't ruin his stitches. If you bring him back in one week, I can remove the external stitches. The internal stitches will dissolve on their own.” I stood and turned toward Sheila.

“When you stop at the front desk, Riley will give you a light dose of daily antibiotics to ward off any infection and one week worth of pain meds. You can crush those and put it in some kind of food he likes.”

“Tuna!” Callie interjected.

“When we send him home tomorrow, he’ll have his dose already, so you won’t have to give him…” I thought a moment. “…tuna until Sunday. If he seems like he’s still in pain, you can always pick up more pain meds when you come to get the stitches out. He’ll be ready at noon.”

The girl jumped up and threw her arms around my middle. “I thought he wasn't going to make it. He doesn’t listen to me. I tried to tell him to stay inside, but he won't.”

“No, it’s hard to adopt a barn kitty and turn him into a house cat, but you're doing a good job of it, and I know Sully-Boy loves you more than anything.”

Sheila beamed at me as though I'd said the best thing in the world for her daughter at that moment, so big the tiny star tattoos around eyes crinkled.

I didn't know what to say. It was the best part of the job. At least today hadn't become the worst part of my job as Willow Creek’s veterinarian.

Another rush of moisture flooded my eyes. “You can go back now. I think Riley has him in recovery.”

The girl looked at her mother. “Can we go?”

Sheila smiled and nodded. “Sure, sweetie, we can go back. Tell Ms. Emma thank you.”

Callie grinned up at me. “Thank you, Ms. Emma.” She paused. “And I like your hair, but Mama won’t let me get a rainbow in my hair until I’m old enough to pay for it myself.” She scrunched her nose. “Or my dad says yes.”

The laughter bubbled up and spilled over, though I tried to bite it back. “That makes perfect sense. Besides, I bet Sully-Boy likes your hair just the way it is.”

Willow Creek hadn’t known what to think of my hair when I first had come back to open my own veterinary practice.

Even my own mother had her reservations, but it had helped build a social media following, and each new hit from “Rainbow Vet” brought a new patient in my front door, and now it was my brand.

My local hairdresser loved it when I came in to get the colors redone, and I’d even gotten a rainbow tattoo on my hip to match.

“Riley will help you settle your bill when you’re ready,” I added, waving Logan’s credit card. “I’ll give her this, and it’ll include everything you’ll take with you when you pick him up tomorrow.”

Sheila gathered her purse as the girl ran ahead of her through the other swinging door and squealed a moment later.

Callie must have made it to the recovery cage.

The cat was going to have a heck of an anesthesia hangover, and I imagined his feline face wincing as the high-pitched sound hit his sensitive ears.

Before Sheila slipped out of the waiting room, she laid a tattooed hand on my arm. The intricate, colorful designs ran up the length of her arm. They reminded me of the Northern Lights. On her shoulder, there was a tattoo of a wolf beneath the lights and a full moon.

“Come down to Vixen’s tonight,” she said. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

Sheila owned the best bar in downtown Willow Creek, and I hadn’t crossed the threshold in at least six months.

“You don’t have to do that.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d been asked to stop by. Every time I saved Sully-Boy, Sheila extended the same invitation.

She chuckled. “No, but I want to. Callie will be at her dad’s tonight, so I’ll be at the bar, and I bet you could use a break after a long week. Besides, I’ve got a new drink on the menu.”

“Oh?”

“It’s called Animal Doctor, but the regulars call it ‘the Emma.’”

My eyebrows pinched. My name? “What? Why’s it called that?”

“You’ll see.”

My shoulders drooped slightly. “If I’m up to it, I’ll stop by tonight.”

“You better. We have a live AC/DC tribute band, and they’re pretty good. They get the whole place wound up, and you’ll have fun.” Sheila grinned and followed the squeals of her happy daughter.

Sully-Boy was the last appointment of my regular day, so I planned to head home while Riley and Shannon closed up, and disinfected the exam tables, the cabinets, and the floors.

Shannon always took an hour in the afternoon to pick up her kids from school and get them a snack, and then the kids helped their mom around the office while she finished disinfecting and processing accounts.

Shannon had been with me since I’d opened my practice a few years ago, and she could nearly run the place without me.

After her divorce last year, she’d needed more flexibility with her schedule, and I didn’t mind giving it to her.

Single moms had it rough. Single dads did, too, but Shannon was the one I could help.

Willow Creek was a small community, without a lot of job employment opportunities, so my employees never minded working extra hours as often as I let them.

Riley was just out of high school, but she still lived at home.

However, Shannon had three kids, and she always needed the money.

Neither of them knew it, but I was planning to give them both Christmas bonuses…

or maybe Thanksgiving bonuses when the time came around.

And maybe I’d deposit a box of toys and other gifts on Shannon’s front porch anonymously.

That made me chuckle, too. Those kids were something else.

I stepped into the recovery room where Callie and Sheila still cooed over their barn kitty turned invalid. “ I’m headed out, Riley. Shannon should be back any minute.”

“Sure thing,” she said, already working on cleaning out one of the cages we’d used for a spaying that morning.

I stopped beside her and discreetly handed her Logan’s card. “Give this to Shannon to use when she settles Sheila’s bill.”

“Slide it in my pocket,” she said, jutting her hip toward me. “My hands are a little messy.”

I did and turned to leave, thankful Riley hadn’t noticed the name on the front of the card.

Callie waved at me, as though she meant to get my attention. “Do we have to leave?”

“No, you can stay as long as Miss Riley says it’s okay to stay.”

Riley’s cheeks pinched in a grin, and she winked at the girl. “I guess we’ll see how you behave, huh?”

Sully-Boy hissed at everyone to show his general displeasure with the whole situation.

Callie bounced up to the front of his cage. “You don’t get to talk that way, Sully. You take that back.”

The cat meowed at her as if in apology, and I shook my head. Sometimes, it really seemed like they spoke to each other. “You all have a great evening. You’ll be able to pick him up at noon tomorrow. Riley, don’t forget to send them home with the meds tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am. You have a good trip!” She straightened from her task and pinned me with a look. “I hope you do everything I would do. ”

“Unlikely.”

But I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to a certain dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes. I wasn’t about to mess up my life for a guy, no matter how broad his shoulders were or how his biceps bulged in the sleeves of his polos.

Yet if I sat down to sketch out my perfect type…

Well, Logan placed at the top of the list, and he was beginning to look like a long, sexy drink for my thirsty workaholic lady parts, if I were honest. My lips parted slightly, and goosebumps slid over my skin as I wondered what it might be like to go on a date with him.

Could he handle nothing serious? Could I?

A sigh escaped me. Fat chance. Wishful thinking. It’d get messy, but I had to admit, one crazy night sounded delicious, salacious, and a great prescription to combat the doldrums.

Though, I’d die before I ever admitted any of my new revelation to Riley.

One of these days, maybe I’d bump into Logan somewhere around town.

Nevertheless, I decided to wait for Shannon to run the credit card, so I could take his credit card with me.

Just because. Maybe Logan would show up somewhere, and maybe I liked the idea of his name in my pocket.

In the meantime, work hard, play hard, right? Time for a little routine shake-up.

I’d be damned. After I got back into my street clothes, I was heading to Vixen’s to have a big glass of “Animal Doctor.”

Whatever the hell it was.